POWERGRAMS

20 Luciano of his days as a police officer in Lansing, Mich. "You're always missing sleep. It's terribly physically demanding." Another round-the-clock operation is just down the street. The Distribution Control Center (DCC) is the "air traffic control" of Alabama Power's distribution grid, sending out calls when trouble strikes. "We take the tickets and dispatch them to the first responders, the LOLs (local operations linemen)," said Supervisor Ken Eddings, with the Birmingham DCC since 2005. "If they can restore power by themselves, they do; if not, we call a line crew and they assist." While DCC operators' work schedules are determined far in advance, storms don't often cooperate. "The last two Christmases, we had bad storms," said Power Delivery Distribution Team Leader Jody Clay, who last year worked his first Christmas Day as a newlywed. "My 20-year-old is used to it; my 13-year-old doesn't like it too much," added Eddings. During major storm outages, operators usually work 16-hour days until power is restored. "DCC supervisors from all over the United States like to talk with us about storm restoration, ask us how we return power as fast as we do," said Eddings. "It boils down to we get a lot of practice, unfortunately. We've seen it all." Martin Dobek is field operations manager in the Southern Division Complex in Montgomery. He is in charge of trouble-shooting Alabama Power's IT network in the southern part of the state (John Noyes handles the north). "Not a day goes by that somebody doesn't get called out afterhours in our groups," he said. "One time I was called out on Christmas eve when I needed to be putting toys together. It's just a way a life. My family is used to it." Linemen and their families know the drill. "For me, the last big one was the 2011 tornadoes," said Michael "Smoky" Frazier, subforeman of Transmission Line Counterpoise Crew 43. "We worked 15-hour days for about two weeks, hauling material from Mobile to north Alabama." "One time we had to leave town and go to north Alabama, work from three days before Christmas to two days after," said Osie Cunningham, Selma Line Crew foreman. "The kids were about 8, 10 and 16 years old. Nothing you can do. All you can tell them is daddy had to go to work." If a lineman is the face of the company, then a customer service representative is its voice. "We're a 24/7 operation," said Ralph Bellamy, director of the Customer Service Center. "Call centers, they know they're going to have to work on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve." The selection process is based on seniority and overtime. Those who have worked the most overtime hours have first choice in shifts at the call centers, which get as many as 14,000 calls a day (peak season is June-September). A personal touch also helps. "My wife will join me on a holiday to come and visit those folks who are away from their families," said Bellamy. "I tease Ella that the power company gets a great deal, two for the price of one." This attitude has helped Alabama Power become a responsiveness leader. In 2014, an ESource survey ranked Southern Company/ Alabama Power second highest among 57 utilities for effectively using social media to communicate with customers during storms and outages. "If it's a major storm, everybody works," said Cassandra Coleman, Customer Service Center manager in Birmingham. "As others are packing up to leave, we're here. We have to be here when the customers need us." Clay at work in Birmingham Distribution DOC.

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